Posted on 04/04/2005 11:02:32 AM PDT by freedomfryer
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The former US envoy to the Vatican, Jim Nicholson, recalled Pope John Paul II's vocal opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq on the grounds that war represented a "defeat for humanity."
"There was a clear disagreement," Nicholson said of the rift between the Vatican and the White House over the use of military force to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The pope, who died Saturday, "was a man of peace, and he always hoped for the peace option," Nicholson said in an interview with the Denver Post.
"If he could keep war from breaking out, there's always a chance that peace would break out," Nicholson said. "That was his position about Iraq; he made that clear to me. He also said that war is a defeat for humanity, that war is not always inevitable."
In a failed attempt to sway President George W. Bush from a military strike, the pope had sent an emissary to Washington in the run-up to the war.
"The president had a great deal of respect for the pope, so he took it very seriously," Nicholson said in a separate interview with CNN.
Although differences emerged over Iraq, Nicholson said the pope had been "very supportive" of the US-led war on terror launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
During an audience with the pope just days after the attacks, Nicholson said the pontiff had offered his condolences to the American people and condemned the terrorist action as "an attack on humanity."
He also suggested that the pope and President Bush had forged a close bond, especially over their shared commitment to encouraging a "culture of life."
Sorry but Bush SHOULD GO. The pope is taking the Catholic Church's stand on war. The pope's stand on war was totally expected.
I'm sure the Iraqi's who were being tortured and their families killed didn't have a lot of time to wait for peace to break out. Easy for the pope to speak as he sat in his gold and ivory tower.
Send Jessie.
Perhaps that was before they saw the millions of defiant Iraqi voters showing off their purple thumbs.
"If he could keep war from breaking out, there's always a chance that peace would break out," Nicholson said
Not in Saddam's Iraq, there wasn't.
The Pope was a man of peace in the model of Jesus. He was not a political figure so he could advocate an ideal. Sounds like he and Bush could still respect one another.
The fact that Bush is going makes me even more proud of our fine president.
"Former" = Clinton-appointed?
If so, we should expect nothing less than what we see here.
((((PING)))))
Welcome to Free Republic
I 100% respect the Pope's position on the war because it didn't come from any anti-Americanism, unlike the liberals and Eurotrash.
Nobody's perfect.
If you put all the stuff the Pope agreed with next to what Bush thinks and what the AP thinks, who do you think would come out ahead?
Note how it's a much more vocal opposition, now that the Pope is dead.
"The pope is taking the Catholic Church's stand on war."
There-in lies the problems, both the Church and the Pope were as wrong as could be on our liberation of Iraq.
The Pope was larger than the disgreement over the war..President Bush accepted that and so do I..I was irritated by his stance but I recognize the Pope as a great man.
Ok let me get this straight once and for all...
1) It was a low level liberal punk in the Vatican spouting off about the war. His statement was not endorsed by the Pope, the Vatican, or the Catholic Church.
2) The Pope met with Pres. Bush several time. I hardly think that the Pope would see the Pres. as anything else other than a courageous and moral leader, bent on protecting America. He would be one of the first person to understand the Iraq war.
3) The Pope was a great friend of Pres. Reagan and PM Margaret Thatcher, both statesmen not a stranger to war.
4) The Pope fought Communism. Not with guns and bombs, but he fought them nonetheless.
5) The Catholic Church uunderstands the concept of just war but ferowns on all manner of killing, even if it is justified. Really good Catholics will pray for the souls of those who have sinned greviously even if they are abominable in everyway shape or form. This is done in the hope that they beg God's forgiveness and find salvaation from their crimes. God weeps for everyione of His children he lost. That is the power of His Love, something many of us, including me, don't quite understand.
Welcome to FR. You seem to be wanting to stir up trouble.
I think Bush should go to the funeral. He obviously respected the Pope, even with their differences.
But you aren't really here for that are you?
I'm Catholic and agree with the war on Iraq, but I'm glad that the Pope spoke out against the war, because that undoubtedly kept the war from being perceived as a religious "crusade", and probably has saved thousands of Christian lives in the Middle East from any sort of backlash.
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